Ahoy from Philadelphia!

[Capn Duff]

Expansions, a long dark slippery slope.
At present be aware there is little in the way of US shipping, official models you have the Uss Constitution and a sloop.

Waves 1 and 2 are getting hard to find, well here in uk anyway, at reasonable prices, so you might want to look here as a starter.
The Spanish ships have been a big source of discussion here as they are noticeably smaller than the original ships. The later ships all suffer from a shrinkage and pureists will see issues with some first rates.

BUT

That said the game is great fun, the rules give a good feel for naval warfare in the Napoleonic period, but the rules are not an exact simulation.

The starter set will give you 2 x 74 gun ships and 2 smaller frigates, British and French, expansion sets are , in my opinion, are shoals and island sets, forts and land batteries, and extra ship mats.... each ship in play needs a set of marker chits, each ship mat comes with a set of these counters. In the starter set you get 4 mats and four sets of these counters.

Extra ships are bought separately and are individually boxed, in the box you get a ship, manoeuvre deck, ship card, ship log and a double sided base card, so each model can be one of two ships.

There are a couple of trains of thought for the game, some think it is best suited to frigate actions while others prefer fleet actions, but there are no official fleet rules.

So after deciding what thread you prefer will say what ships to go for.

Currently the Brits have available two smaller frigates 32 gun Amazon and Concorde class, a larger frigate Hebe 40 guns class , another larger frigate Portland class of 50 guns and a Spanish Mahonesa class. Each of these classes has three packs each with one ship with a choice of 2 named ships.
Hope that not confused you.

If you want fleet actions there are more ship packs ranging from 1st rate 100 gun plus, 74 gun ships and earlier and smaller 64 gun ships.

If you fancy both types of game, I would start by getting a couple of frigates. Then a couple of 74s then a larger 1st rate for RN, French and Spanish fleets.

The link goes to Ares games ship packs, here are all the ships currently published.

https://www.aresgames.eu/games/sails...ory-ship-packs


Once you have a few of these models, you will need extra ships as you need the manoeuvre decks to play, here on the site we have members who can make the mats, ship cards and base insets for any ship you may want.
Not trying to put you off here Calvin, because it is a great game and one I enjoy greatly. I was lucky being in from the start so I have a few ships in my collection and want more.
Get the starter set and try a few games then see what you think, we can then give more advice how to relinquish you cash.
Feel free to ask questions on the game, we have a lot of people who will have an answer, enjoy the game, it is great fun.
If I can help with any advice just ask.